There seems to be popular thought among small business owners and lawyers that figuring out what to say on Twitter is difficult. It's not.
You have to remember, it's a blip, a sound byte, an hors d'ouvre. You don't have to be Walt Whitman, or Stephen Covey. You don't have to write a coherent paragraph - that's for a more distinguished and formal space, Facebook...
Let's say you have a small business and you want to promote it on Twitter. First, go sign up for Twitter. It's easy. Then, Tweet.
Here are 5 suggestions:
1. Come in on Tuesday, when everything is 10% off!
2. Follow our business on Twitter and we will follow YOU!
3. Read this story in the local paper and thought ____________.
4. It's Monday AGAIN?! They keep popping up so regularly. They are a real buzzkill.
5. I blogged! Check it out: [insert link]
Of course, not all of these would be appropriate for, say, a law firm.
Now, attorneys are notorious for being wary of social media. I know there are visions dancing in their heads of them being in court on malpractice charges: "Is it true that you posted a Tweet saying you were in deposition and actually you were at your kid's soccer game?! Hmm?!?"
I link every single blog I do to Twitter. That's worth a Tweet a day for me. Sometimes more than one.
You can also present facts and figures:
"Our firm won 100% of our cases that went to trial last month!" [you can omit the fact that none of your cases went to trial]
"Last year our average case settled for $498,ooo!"
"Our staff turnover rate is .06%!"
Or report the news around the office:
"We welcome a new associate onboard, Ernest Biller!"
"Birthday cake in the breakroom from Piece of Cake. Yum!"
Or go for humor:
"Hey, we not be on the sides of the bus, but we keep marketing budgets low and pass the savings on to YOU!"
"Check out the news story here [insert url] strippers sue for wage and hours issue!"
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Here are some actual Tweets I saw tonight:
"My soundtrack: ♫ "The Kiss" by The Cure" [my friend Scott]
"Working on a reboot of "The Crucible" starring Richie Incognito." [Dennis Miller]
If you ever wondered what it was like to live in Utah: http://dooce.com/2013/11/07/living-in-utah/ … http://fb.me/6l0ABJ9vh [Heather Armstrong a/k/a Dooce]
"True or False: Zombies can't see you if you don't move. My daughter and I are having a huge (and highly worthwhile) argument about this." [Ree Drummond a/k/a Pioneer Woman]
"Spent the day w/ koalas & now my eye is swollen. Can you get eye chlamydia? Or is it more likely a spider has laid eggs?" [The Bloggess]
Giant Burrito To Solve All Of Area Man’s Problems For 6 Precious Minutes http://onion.com/HBbzsp [The Onion]
// As you can see, my Twitter taste runs to comedy...
So go TWEET TODAY!
If you want to follow me on Twitter, I Tweet as Crabmama...